


Surprises

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Original Character - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-08-13
Updated: 2000-08-13
Packaged: 2019-05-15 01:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14780945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: It's Roni's birthday.





	1. Surprises

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

Notes: I know I just finished posting the last story just today, but I'm trying a new thing here. I'm gonna see how I like writing a little bit, then posting it. Instead of writing an entire story, then start posting it. Something to keep in mind when you read this story, you may end up reading something similar in another story that is being posted. Two of us had similar ideas around the same time, but we both decided to post now. Don't know if there will be any songs in this one. You may get a break for a while. But we'll see, cause I have no clue where I am taking this story.

Disclaimer: People can dream, can't they?

Spoilers: It's Roni's birthday.

"Hey Roni! What's up?" Sam asked walking up behind Roni in the halls.

"Nothin' much. Just chillin'."

"You coming to the party tonight?"

"You mean the party that is a surprise birthday party for me, that I'm not supposed to know about. The one that I'm supposed to think is for the assistant...something I can't remember?"

"It's your birthday?" Sam asked nervously.

"In a few days, yeah. Like you didn't know. I see it in your face expression, Sam. You can't lie to me."

"How do you do that?"

"I don't know, it's just a gift. It comes in handy a lot, as you can probably imagine. So tell me, does this party also double as a you're-about-to-start- college-soon kind of party?"

"I wasn't the one who told you, you just remember that."

"Okay. So you wanna help me with a few things?" Roni asked with a mischievous face expression.

"What are you planning? You're not going to get me in any trouble are you?"

"Trouble? Me? Never!" Roni exclaimed.

"If you say so." Sam said giving her a questioning look.

"So."

Trying not to laugh, Sam asked, "What is it? What have you got planned?"

*************************

"Are you sure everything is set, Jed?"

"Abbey, for the tenth time, I am sure. Now sit down and relax!" Jed directed his wife to a seat on his couch, then sat next to her.

"And she doesn't expect anything?"

"We're doing this days before her birthday, I really don't think she has a clue. Now relax."

"Relax? I can't relax. There is still too much to do. I have to call the..." Abbey began as Jed grabbed her face and began to kiss her very passionately.

"Relax. You won't do anyone any good if you're not relaxed Abbey."

"I know, but I still have a lot to do. I have to..." Once again Jed stopped her from continuing her rant by kissing her.

"Shh. No more about the party. If you start to talk about the party again, I'm gonna have to take action again." Jed said smiling.

"You'll probably keep going no matter what I talk about, so I might as well contin..."

"Abbey! Stop talking." Jed kissed her once again. As his hands began to wander about, there came a light tap on the door, followed by Mrs. Landingham entering the office. Upon her entrance, Jed ceased his actions.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, sir, but there is a call for you Mrs. Bartlet."

"If it's about that damn party, she isn't available, Mrs. Landingham." Jed said, giving his wife a very transparent look.

"Thank you, Mrs. Landingham." Abbey got up and went over to the phone, as Mrs. Landingham exited the office. "Hello?...Yes...You can!...Thank you...goodbye."

"What was that about?"

"I'm not allowed to say. Listen, I've got to go do a few things, so I'm going to go now." Abbey kissed her husband on the cheek and quickly retreated from the office before he could say anything.


	2. Surprises 2

"Hey mom. I was told you were looking for me?" Roni said as she entered her mother's office and sat down on one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"Yeah, your dress for the party tonight came this afternoon." Abbey said as she tried to hide some papers.

"Why do I have to wear a dress? I hate them. I've never been comfortable wearing a dress. Why do you think I'm always in jeans, or shorts?"

"It's only one night, Roni. I'm sure it won't kill you."

"Actually, it might do just that." Roni said as she got one of those looks from her mother. "Hey listen. About that party tonight..."

"What about it?"

"I may not be able to stay for very long. I have to..."

Abbey cut her off, as panic overtook her. "What? You have to come, and you have to stay the entire time."

"Why? Like I know the assistant whoever, that this party is for. Like they are going to miss me."

"Roni, you have to come." Abbey stressed the have to part.

"Yeah, I know. But what I'm saying is that I may only stay for a few minutes. And I may be a few hours late too."

"What?! Why?! What's going on?"

"Well, I was planning on meeting with my roommate, before school starts up."

"And you have to do that tonight?"

"Well, Faith is leaving town for a week. She won't be back until classes begin, so..."

"Why don't you invite her to the party. I'm sure she'd love to come." Abbey suggested, becoming desperate.

"Well, I also have to do a few things tonight too." Roni said, trying to hide any signs of a smile.

"What? What things?"

*************************

"JED!" Abbey screamed as she broke into the Oval Office.

"See what I mean, Leo?" Jed turned to his best friend with a chuckle at Abbey's entrance.

"Yeah. Well, if that's it Mr. President..."

"Yeah, go on, get out of here." Jed responded giving the answer before the question was finished, like he does so very often.

"Jed, Roni...the party..."

"Abbey, what did I say before?"

"I can't relax. Roni just came in and said she will be coming to the party a few hours late, and she can only stay a few minutes." Her husband easily heard the panic in her voice. "What are you going to do?"

"Me? Why do I have to do something?"

"Cause you want me to relax, but if I have to figure out how to deal with this, there is no way I will be able to relax."

Taking her arms, Jed looked into her eyes. All he saw was panic. "Fine. What if I put someone in charge of making sure she comes. They can follow her around, and when it comes time for her to start to get ready, they can tell her."

"That could work, but who are you going to get?" Abbey asked as she began to calm down. Just then, someone began to knock on the door, and a head peered in the room.

"What about him?" Jed asked his wife.

"Him? That could be interesting." Abbey responded as she took note of the person that was walking their way.

*************************

  


	3. Surprises 3

Notes: I really tried to keep this a work in progress, but I'm already done with it. Except for one small thing, adding the lyrics to the song I managed to include. Something I forgot to do in the first two parts, was to thank Dallas and Batman for their help with ideas. And Chelle, for proofing the first little bit.

"Roni, I called them. They said it should be no problem to do that." Sam said as Roni walked into his office.

"Really? Great! So, phase one and two are complete." Roni said with an evil grin on her face.

"What was the first phase?"

"The call you made."

"And the second one?"

"The second one. That was me making mom think that I will be arriving late, and leaving early."

"You didn't?!" Sam asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I did."

"Well that's just mean."

"Yeah, but it was a lot of fun watching her try to fumble around."

*************************

"I have this eerie feeling that the two of you are talking about me." Toby said as he walked towards the President and the First Lady.

"Toby! Just the person I wanted to see. What are you doing in the next few hours?"

"Rewriting all the speeches that Sam wrote. Why?"

"That can wait. I have a special assignment for you."

"Sir, I would rather just rewrite the speeches. Couldn't Sam or Josh do this special assignment?"

"They could, but you are the one that walked into my office when this special assignment was being created. Therefore, you get to do it."

"What is it, sir?"

"Roni has decided that she will not be joining the party right away. And when she does show up, she thinks that she will be leaving shortly after. Now, to get my wife to relax, I need someone to tail Roni, and make sure she shows up at this party, on time."

"Why don't you just have the secret service do this, sir? They already tail her."

"Well, I think it wouldn't be wise to let Roni get out of the White House, cause from there, it'll be harder to get her to come back. And the secret service have no control over that, you could."

"So, we were thinking if you could give Roni something to do in your office, where you can watch her. Something that will take a couple of hours, we'd appreciate it, Toby." Abbey chimed in.

Right around then, Mrs. Landingham entered, "Excuse me Mr. President, Mrs. Bartlet, Roni is here."

"Send her in, would you?" Jed responded as he invited Toby to sit down.

When Roni walked in the room she got an evil look from Toby, and smiles from her parents, "Okay, what's going on in here?"

"Roni, just the person we were looking for." Jed walked to his daughter and kissed her on the cheek.

"This doesn't sound good." Roni said as she walked to the couches.

"Would you like to help Toby write a speech?"

"Would I like to?" Roni repeated after her father.

"Yeah."

"I think I'd rather pass. Besides, I have some things to do...which is probably why you are wanting me to do this."

*************************

  


	4. Surprises 4

"Stop that!" Toby said while he typed away at his computer.

"Sorry. Didn't realize I was tapping this pencil."

"Why don't you go sit on the couch."

"I thought I was supposed to help you. I'm not doing anything but sitting here."

"No, I'm supposed to baby-sit you. The only way the President could make me go along with this, was to suggest you help with a speech. There is a difference, cause I really don't need your help."

"You don't have to baby-sit me. I know why dad did this. It's cause of something I said to mom. Well, I was just messing with her. So you see, you really don't have to baby-sit me. You should just let me go."

"I would let you go, but I can't. Here, you want to help, read this to me." Toby turned his computer where Roni could see it.

After silently reading the computer screen for a minute, she looked up at Toby, "I can't even pronounce any of these words. What, is there a requirement that all the words have to be at least twenty characters?"

"Fine, I'll read it to you. Tell me how it sounds." When Toby finished, he looked up at Roni, who was struggling to keep her eyes open. "Roni!"

"Huh!? What?!" Roni's eyes shot open.

"Did you hear any of what I just read to you?"

"I think I vaguely remember something about 'Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen.' But that's just about it."

"So basically, you just made me waste ten, twenty minutes reading this to you?"

"Yeah, basically. Hey, can I go yet? I really do have things to do, you know." Roni said out of desperation.

"No, you can't. Not until I am told by the President that you are aloud to leave. Why don't you go sit on the couch and look at these notes Sam gave me earlier." Toby handed a yellow legal pad to Roni.

"Why? You don't need me to do this for you, and I know you don't want me to. Just let me go."

"If you ask that one more time, I'm gonna...I'm gonna..."

"What Toby? You're gonna what? Let me go?" Roni asked with a little hope in her voice.

"No. I'm gonna read this speech to you again."

"Fine, I'll go over here, I'll read this stuff. I probably won't understand any of it. Nor will I care about this stuff, but I'll read it. Once I'm done though, I'm gonna go."

"Just go, read. And be quiet, I need to concentrate."

*************************

After having been to the residence part of the White House, Brad had been unsuccessful in finding Roni. So, he decided to look for her among the many halls of the building. He knew she liked to go walking all around, and he even began to know which halls were her favorites to visit. The first stop would be to see Mrs. Landingham, cause he knew she often goes to visit her father.

"Hello Mrs. Landingham, is Roni in there?" Brad said pointing towards the open door.

"No dear, she's not." Mrs. Landingham said, as Jed approached heard the voices and deiced to go in the reception area.

"Well hello there, Bradley."

"Hello Mr. President. How are you today?"

"I'm good, I'm good. Thanks for asking. Son, why don't you come into my office. I'm kind of bored right now, and have been looking for someone to hara... talk with." Jed smiled.

"Yes, sir." Brad reluctantly moved towards the Oval Office. "It was nice talking with you Mrs. Landingham."

Before Mrs. Landingham could even reply, Jed had Brad in his office, with the door shut. "Sit down, relax." Brad did as he was told. Well, he sat, but he wasn't too relaxed. He never was when he was around the President. "So you know Roni's birthday is in two days, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Okay. So what are your intentions for my daughter on her birthday?"

"Sir?"

"What do you have planned?"

"Well...I thought maybe I'd take her out to dinner. If that's alright with you and the First Lady."

"I suppose that would be okay. And what did you get her?"

"It isn't so much what I got her, but what I'm going to give her, sir."

Jed jerked his head to this news. "What do you mean?"

"I drew something, and she admired it. So I was planning on giving it to her."

*************************


	5. Surprises 5

After Brad was released from the office of the President, he only made it to right outside of the Oval Office. He was a little pre-occupied, all he could think about was the dating advice thrust onto him from his girlfriend's father. The information being ways that would probably manage to put Brad in the doghouse with Roni, instead of help him with her. Brad finally managed to shrug it off, as he heard his name being called.

"Brad!" Josh said as he came up behind the young man who had just exited the Oval Office. "What's up?"

"Uh, I used to know. But now, I'm not so sure."

"Whatever he said, you should ignore it." Advised Josh.

"Excuse me?"

"You just came from seeing the President, right?" Brad nodded in agreement. "Whatever he said, and I'm assuming it had to do with your dating Roni. You should ignore it, I know Charlie does."

"Yes, sir."

"Brad, you don't have to call me sir. So what'd you get Roni for her birthday?"

"I'm giving her a drawing that she admires."

"What kind of drawing?"

"A drawing I drew of the two of us, after our first date."

"Oh, yeah? I didn't know you could draw."

"Yeah. Hey, do you know where I can find Roni?"

"Yeah, I believe she's in with Toby."

"Toby? Wonder what that's about. Okay, thanks." Brad said as he moved off.

The President, having heard the entire exchange between his deputy chief of staff, and his daughter's boyfriend, decided to go out into the hall, and call Josh into his office.

"So tell me Josh, do you make it a point to go around telling my daughters' boyfriends' not to listen to me?"

"I...didn't...um..."

*************************

"Ziegler, what do you want?" Toby answered his phone. Then he looked over at Roni, "It's for you. Make it snappy, I don't like people using my phone."

"Okay, I'll try to make it as long as possible. Just for you." Roni smiled innocently at him while she took the phone. "Hello?...You can't?...Well, can you...You can?!...Tonight...Yes, thank you sooo much...later." Roni hung the phone up. "So did I make that fast enough for you?"

"No, but I suppose it will have to do. Who was calling for you in my office anyway?"

"I'm not about to tell you. It's a secret, and frankly, I don't trust you to keep it." She said sarcastically as a knock came at the door.

"Go away!" Toby growled.

"You know, you should be nice. That could be my dad, my mom, or Leo. Or someone important." Roni said as she walked over and opened the door. "Brad?! What are you doing here? I haven't seen you since Christmas."

"That was only a few days ago. Anyway, the question should be, what are you doing here?" Brad responded looking around Toby's office.

"Enough of that you two. I have work to do."

"Don't listen to him Brad. He's just mad cause dad's making him baby-sit me."

"Your dad is having you babysat?" Brad looked at Roni in a teasing manner.

"Well, really mom. So what'd you want?"

"Will you two go away?" Toby screamed from behind his desk.

"If you're giving me permission, sure. I never wanted to be here to begin with." Roni said as she disappeared with Brad. "So what do I owe this pleasure to?" Roni asked him.

"I was wondering what you were doing Sunday night."

"Sunday night? What's so special about Sunday night?" Roni asked with a devilish grin.

"As if you don't know. Anyway, I've made some plans, but I could change them, if..."

"No, no. I'm all yours Sunday night. So let's hurry up and get out of here before I'm spotted."

"Spotted? By whom?" Brad asked curiously.

"Mom, or dad. I told them I was going to show up to the party late, and they decided to have me restricted to White House grounds. More specifically, Toby's office. So we need to hurry up before they see me."

"Where are we going?"

"I've got some things to take care of before tonight."

"You know, you still haven't told me what you have planned for tonight." Brad said, with a hint of hurt in his voice.

*************************

  


	6. Surprises 6

"That was the last thing, right?" Jed asked his wife who just hung the phone up.

"Yes, that was the last thing." Abbey replied as she joined her husband on the couch.

"So no more worrying? You're going to be relaxed now?"

"Yeah, no more worrying." Abbey said as she ran her fingers through her hair.

Jed sat there, quietly starring at his wife. After a long moment, he finally moved over and pulled her glasses off of her. "You're so gorgeous, you know that?"

"You're not so bad yourself." Abbey responded as the two kissed. When the kiss broke, Abbey said, "I love you so much."

"Prove it." Fired Jed as he leaned back in for another kiss.

Before he could, she managed to say, "Don't push me." Once the second kiss ended, Abbey got a goofy grin on her face, "Okay, push me."

"I will." They kissed again, as Abbey's watch alarm started to go off. "What's that for?" He asked.

"I've gotta go."

"You said you were all done. What do you have to go do?"

*************************

"What did that have to do with tonight?" Brad asked as he climbed back inside of Roni's dark blue 1999 Chevy S-10.

"You'll see tonight." Roni said with yet another grin on her face.

"You're not going to tell me? I'm hurt."

Roni leaned over and gave him a quick kiss, "Nope! I'm not telling anyone...except Sam. Cause I needed some help."

"You went to Sam for help, and not me?"

"Well, yeah. It was the kind of help that I knew he could give. I don't think you would have been able to do it." Roni said as she started her truck.

"You're evil! You know that?"

"Yeah, I know. It's pretty fun, actually." Roni grinned as she pushed in the gas pedal.

"So where to now?"

"Now, I have to slip back in the White House. And hopefully no one noticed I was gone. Then I have to go to my room, and try to find something."

"And you're not going to tell me what, are you?"

"You catch on pretty fast, Einstein."

"Einstein?" Brad questioned.

"Yeah. What, you don't like it?"

"Why? That's what I want to know"

"Cause you were valedictorian in high school."

"You were too, so can I call you Einstein as well?"

"Well, Einstein's a guy, I'm a girl. In case you haven't noticed."

"Oh, I've noticed. Believe me, I've noticed." Brad smirked.

*************************

  


	7. Surprises 7

Abbey, having taken care of the business that took her away from the President, was now on her way to go grab Roni and take her back to the Residence. Little did she know that Roni wasn't with Toby any longer.

"Where is she?" Abbey entered the room frantically, not seeing Roni.

"Mrs. Bartlet, hello."

"Where is she Toby? You were supposed to keep her with you. What happened?" Abbey panicked.

"Brad came, ma'am. I couldn't work with the two of them in here, so I chased them away." Toby said as he prepared himself for the wrath that was known as the First Lady.

"What? How could you? Do you know where they went?" Abbey grew furious.

"Well, she was with Brad. So I didn't think you would...."

"Toby! How could you?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am. If there is anything I can do to make up for it..."

"What am I going to do? She's gonna show up late to her own party. Okay, breathe...Toby, did they say where they were going?"

"No, they did not. But if it is any consolation, to show you how sorry I am, I can try to track her down for you." Toby said as Roni and Brad had arrived in the doorway. Having heard some of the conversation, Roni tried to sneak away. "Ma'am, she's right there, behind you." Toby said counting his blessings. He knew with Roni back, there was no way he would get into more trouble. Well, he could hope.

Abbey turned around immediately, and saw no one. "Where?" She questioned as she looked out in the communications bullpen area. Spotting Roni and Brad retreating behind one of the doors, Abbey took off after them. Finally catching up with them, "Where have you been? Why did you leave?"

"I'm sorry ma'am. I shouldn't have taken her away. It's my fault." Brad decided to stick up for Roni.

"Don't lie Brad. I made him come with me. Like I told you earlier, I had some things to do. And I still have stuff to do."

"You aren't going anywhere young lady."

"Am I allowed to go to my room and look for something?"

"I have to escort you, cause frankly, I don't trust you right now." Abbey gave Roni an evil look.

"Gee, all this just to get me to some party that I have no clue who it's for. Why?"

Stumbling around for the words to say, and coming up empty, Abbey said, "What is it we are going to look for?"

"I don't know yet. When I figure it out, I'll let you know."

*************************

After searching her room for a few minutes, she decided that Abbey wasn't about to leave her alone. And Brad wasn't going away either; they were both pretty curious as to what she was looking for. Once Roni did find what she had been looking for, she thought it best not to say anything. Instead, she came up with a plan to get the two nosy people out of her room.

"Hey, I've still got, what? An hour before I have to get ready for this party?"

"Yeah, that's about right." Abbey responded.

"Do you mind if I take a little nap? Cause I'm kinda tired."

"Sure, no problem. Brad and I will just go talk about you in the living room."

"We will, ma'am?" Brad asked as Abbey took him by the shoulder and began to walk him out the room.

"We will. It'll be fun, you'll see. Have a nice nap, kiddo."

"Just don't say anything bad about me. Either of you." Roni said as the two disappeared from her room. Roni immediately got up and closed the door, then she moved over to the closet, and took out an old shoebox. "Just what I was looking for. I hope." Roni brought the box over to her bed and opened it up, examining the contents. "Yep, this is it. Now where did I put that stuff I bought yesterday?" Roni asked herself as she looked about the room. Once spotting it in the corner, she went and grabbed it. "Perfect. This is going to be perfect." As she returned to her seat on her bed, something from the shoebox caught her eye. She stopped and moved the things from the way, so she could see exactly what it was.

*************************

"Are we going down there with her?" Jed asked his wife, who was in the bathroom, finishing getting ready.

"Yeah. The four of us, well, five I guess."

"Five? Who's the fifth?" Jed asked again as he began to button his shirt up.

"Brad, who else?"

"You almost done in there?"

"I've been waiting for you to ask me that."

"Well, are you? I finished ten minutes ago." He said as he began to tie his tie.

"Liar! You aren't done yet. And yes, I am." Abbey walked out of the bathroom and stopped, seeing her husband fidget with his tie brought a smile to her face. "Here, let me do that."

"Yes, ma'am." He smiled as he dropped his tie and gladly let his wife step up to the task at hand.

"There, now get your coat on, and let's go."

"Yes, ma'am." He said as he did exactly what he was told to do.

As they walked down the hall, they unexpectantly ran into Sam. "What are you doing here Sam?" Abbey asked. "Aren't you supposed to be at the party already?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm on my way now."

"What's that in your hands?" Jed pointed to a box in a bag.

"This? Oh, this is...it's the present I got for Roni." Sam hoped they would buy that.

*************************

  


	8. Surprises 8

When Charlie got the First Family's estimated time of arrival to the party, he moved inside and instructed everyone to be quiet, as the lights were turned off. None of them having a clue what Roni had done. Except Sam, who found the entire situation very comical.

Jed and Abbey walked arm in arm, as did Roni and Brad. Zoey just trailed in between the two couples. As the five people entered the big ball room, everyone yelled at Roni, "Surprise!"

Roni tried to act surprised, but it didn't work. Everyone knew from her response that she had known of the surprise, even Abbey. "How'd you find out?"

"Find out what, mom?"

"You know what. Who told?"

"No one told. Now I have a surprise for you and dad."

"What are you talking about, Roni?" Jed questioned his youngest daughter, who walked over to Sam and whispered something in his ear.

"You two ready for your surprise?" Roni asked her parents, who weren't sure how to respond. "Hit it, Sam." Sam walked over and pulled a cord, unleashing a new sign, over the one that read 'Happy Birthday Roni'. The new one reading, 'I love you, Mom and Dad!'

"What's with this?" Both Jed and Abbey asked in unison.

"Well, I found out about your surprise party for me. And don't worry, no one told me about it, I just knew. Anyway, I found out about all the hard work you two were putting into this surprise, and I didn't want it to go to waste. So, I decided to switch the theme of the party."

"The new theme being?…" Jed pried.

"The new theme being that I love the two of you. You guys have really been here for me the past few months, through thick and thin. I just wanted a chance to tell you how much I appreciated it."

Jed and Abbey both made their way to Roni and hugged her. After all the guests stopped clapping from Roni's speech, and her actions, Roni pulled away from the hug. "I'm not done."

"What else?" Abbey asked with a tear in her eye.

Roni went over to Sam and got the bag that held the box inside of it. As she walked back over to her parents, she took the box out of the bag. "This is for you."

Abbey motioned for Jed to take the box, as she was too filled with emotions to handle it. Jed carefully unwrapped and opened the box. Taking one glance inside the box, he passed it on to Zoey as his arms made their way around Roni once again. While the two were hugging, Zoey picked the item out of the box. First she showed it to her mother, who immediately began to cry even more. Then to everyone else, as Abbey proceeded to hug her daughter again, as well.

"I found this, earlier." Roni said as she managed to break from the second hug. "I was going through some old stuff, and I came across this." She held up the little plaster circle that held her little five-year-old handprints. "I saw it, and I knew I had to give it to you. Along with something else."

"I don't think I can take much more, Roni." Abbey said as the room of people laughed.

"Well, this is one of my last surprises for you." Sam handed another item to Roni. A book. "The two of you missed my first seventeen years in life. It wasn't your fault, but still, you missed them. You didn't get to hold me the day I was born, I don't think. You didn't get to hear me say my first words, or see me take my first steps. You missed all of that. This is a photo album. All the pictures I could find of myself are in there. Starting from the one the nurses took of me the day I was born, to when I got my first haircut, my first day of school, my first time riding a bike, successfully that is." Roni paused as she glanced at Jed as she tried to stifle her smile. "I hand you my childhood. " Roni handed the book over to her parents. The guests immediately started to clap again at the warm display of emotions before them.

  


	9. Surprises 9

Notes: Thanks to Dallas for finding the lyrics of the song for me.

Once the claps died down, and Abbey gained composure of herself, someone came over to her and whispered something in her ear. "You thought you were pretty smart, didn't you Roni? Well I still have one surprise up my sleeve." Abbey smiled at the now, young adult that she had her arm around.

"What are you talking about?"

"It seems you didn't figure out all of my surprises that I had planned for this evening. Ladies and Gentlemen, if you please, I give you the Goo Goo Dolls." Abbey smiled at her daughter as the group filled into the ballroom.

"What's going on?" Roni asked. She couldn't believe that the Goo Goo Dolls were at her birthday party.

"We know of your love of all things music related, so we bribed Josh into telling us the name of one of your favorite bands. It took some doing, but this is your present from us."

"We did this?" Jed whispered to his wife.

"Yes, we did. That was the call I got earlier." She whispered back.

"Can we get the birthday girl up here?" John Rzeznik, the main singer asked.

After getting pushed forward by her sister, among others, Roni finally gave in, and went up on the stage in the back. "I guess that'd be me."

"Hello Roni. Is there any particular song you'd like to hear first?"

"Uh…sure. What about…Broadway?"

"You've got it." John said as the music began to play.

Broadway is dark tonight A little bit weaker than you used to be Broadway is dark tonight See the young man sittin' in the old man's bar Waitin' for his turn to die

The cowboy kills the rock star And Friday night's gone too far The dim light hides the years On all the faded girls

Forgotten but not gone You drink it off your mind You talk about the world Like it's someplace that you've been

You see you'd love to run home, but you know you ain't got one Cause you're livin' in a world that you're best forgotten, around here

Broadway is dark tonight A little bit weaker than you used to be Broadway is dark tonight See the young man sittin' in the old man's bar Waitin' for his turn to die

You choke down all your anger Forget your only son You pray to statues when you sober up for fun

You're anger don't impress me The world slapped in your face It always rains like hell on the loser's day parade

You see you'd love to run home, but you know ain't got one Cause you're livin' in a world that you're best forgotten When you're thinkin' you're a joke and nobody's gonna listen To the one small point I know they've been missing around here

Broadway is dark tonight A little bit weaker than you used to be Broadway is dark tonight See the young man sittin' in the old man's bar Waitin' for his turn to die

You see you'd love to run home, but you know ain't got one Cause you're livin' in a world that you're best forgotten And if you're thinkin' you're a joke do you think that they'll listen To the one small point I know they've been missing around here Round here

Broadway is dark tonight A little bit weaker than you used to be Broadway is dark tonight See the young man sittin' in the old man's bar Waitin' for his turn to die

*************************

After a most wonderful evening of fun, the party was finally over. The last of the guests, the last being Brad, had finally left. The Jed, Abbey, and Roni found their way back to the residence, where they sat in the living room, looking through the photo album. They sifted through the pictures, laughing and smiling at some of them. When they saw all the pictures, the first being the day Roni was born, and the last being the day Roni graduated high school, they put the book aside, and had a discussion.

"You planned this all by yourself?" Abbey asked.

"I had some help from Sam, but yeah."

"So all that stuff about coming late and leaving early…?" Abbey gave Roni a stern look.

"It was all a game. And I gotta tell you, it was pretty fun watching you try to deal with it all." Roni laughed.

"Where'd you find all these pictures? And the handprints?" Jed asked as he threw his arm around Roni.

"Some of the pictures were sent to me when Keith and Mary packed my life up and sent it here back in June. Others came from a collection I managed to get my hands on. I just wish I had more in there. And the handprints, I don't know where it came from. I just found it. I didn't even know I still had it, let alone that it was still in one piece."

"I'm glad you did this, Roni." Jed kissed her on her forehead. "It means so much. More than you may ever know." A tear began to run down his cheek as he gathered his wife in one arm and his youngest daughter in the other.

THE END


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